A naturalized U.S. citizen sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over what his attorneys say are unconstitutional policies allowing immigration enforcement agents to conduct warrantless searches of electronic devices at ports of entry.
Wilmer Chavarria, a naturalized citizen originally from Nicaragua and the superintendent of a Vermont school district, says he was detained for hours in July by Customs and Border Protection at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Chavarria says CBP agents repeatedly pressured him to turn over his devices, which he refused to do at first to maintain the privacy of student data on his phone and laptop.
“I verbally asserted my rights as a U.S. citizen and requested a lawyer or a phone call, all of which were denied,” he told Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday during an event to highlight detention of U.S. citizens. “I was told that I have no constitutional rights at a port of entry and that I should be grateful that they were even bothering to ask me nicely.”